Dementia biggest killer of Aussie women

Australian drug deaths have reached their highest level since the height of the 1990s heroin epidemic while dementia has become the biggest killer of Aussie women.

Heart disease has long been the nation's number one killer but as its death rate continues to decline, and Australians live longer, the number of people dying from dementia is increasing.

More than one-third of the 158,504 deaths in Australia in 2016 were due to the usual top five leading causes; heart disease, dementia, strokes, lung cancers and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

A record number of Australians - 1808 - died from drugs, the highest level in 20 years.

When drug deaths peaked in 1999, it tended to be younger people overdosing from heroin amid a steep increase in opioid use.

Now it is more likely to be middle-aged people dying from accidental misuse of prescription drugs, as they use multiple drugs.

Australian Bureau of Statistics director of health and vital statistics James Eynstone-Hinkins said the drug-induced deaths were most commonly associated with the prescription drugs benzodiazepines, which is used to manage anxiety, and painkiller oxycodone.

The rate of drug-induced deaths has been rising over the past decade and reached 7.5 deaths per 100,000 Australians in 2016.

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre director Professor Michael Farrell says the death rate has not reached that of the 1990s but it is clearly a concern.

"What we see is that the rates of deaths have gone up as the rates of prescription opioids have gone up, and we don't want to arrive at the situation of the American-type problem," he told AAP on Wednesday.

Prof Farrell said it usually involved people in their 30s and 40s who were using multiple drugs and could be mixing heroin and prescription drugs like oxycodone.

"It's not as easy as to say we've had a complete switch over to chronic pain people on prescription medicine."

The ABS said while prescription drugs actually cause the highest number of drug-induced deaths, the death rate from psychostimulants including methamphetamines and ice has quadrupled since 1999.

In 2016, for the first time, dementia killed more women than heart disease.

The ABS says heart disease remains the leading cause of death for men, but it's likely that in time this will also be surpassed by dementia as treatments for other leading causes such as heart disease improve and men live longer lives.

"Improvements in treatments and prevention of heart disease have contributed to increased life expectancy, but this has also led to increased deaths from conditions such as dementia which affect predominantly very elderly Australians," Mr Eynstone-Hinkins said.

Alzheimer's Australia CEO Maree McCabe said without a significant medical breakthrough, the number of Australians living with dementia is expected to rise from 413,000 currently to 1.1 million by 2056.

"While it is heartening to see that less Australian women are dying from heart disease due to better treatment options and support, there is still no cure for dementia and people with dementia still struggle to find appropriate support and services," she said.

Suicide remains the leading cause of premature death in Australia and is the leading cause of death for those aged 15 to 44.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

For information about dementia contact the national dementia hotline on 1800 100 500.